Temporal Fulcrum
by Zeratide
Summary: First, she was alive when she was not meant to be. Second, this was a place where things were changed. With consequences. Third, the sight of HIM was enough to make her forget all of it.
1. A World Between Worlds

As Fulcrum, she had learned to focus on the situation at hand. Master Yoda had told the younglings that it was imperative to be in the moment, to avoid the lure of the horizon, but it was a life in hiding, a life in the shadows and on the run that had made the lesson stick. Speculating without facts would get you killed. Always, _ALWAYS_ , focus on what you knew.

First, she was alive when she was not meant to be.

She had seen _his_ image when she spoke the words, had resigned herself to the whim of the Force, had fought Vader and known in the moment that she had been just a fraction too slow. Even as she moved to block and try and attack at the same time, she had the moment of clarity where she could see in perfect detail her death in the form of the oncoming swing. The next moment, she was in a void, surrounded by indecipherable whispers and half-forgotten voices.

Second, this was a place where things were changed. With consequences.

She watched as Ezra agonized over Kanan's death, knew that he had pulled her from her time and place and brought her to this shifting maze of could-be's and never-were's and always-are's. If Ezra pulled Kanan from this moment, the former Jedi would live, but the others would die. As they turned away, and the Emperor appeared, and the flames chased them, she knew this was a place that no one should ever be.

Third, the sight of _him_ was enough to make her forget all of it.

A portal surrounded by spirals showed her love holding his blade to Vader's throat. Her breath caught in her throat when he spoke, declaring himself a servant of the Republic, and revealing the man he had been. The flames approached her, and she turned, blasting them back, holding them off as she gazed at the final moments of her love's life, tears falling freely as she watched him face the Emperor. She saw the blow before it came, and turned away, unable to see the moment his life ended.

He was standing in front of her, shining and transparent, his arms raised to the flames. With a gesture, he pushed them back, and with another, the image of the Emperor and his cauldron cracked and disappeared as the portal was broken by the Shatterpoint.

She turned back to the portal, seeing her love sink to his knees, before being blasted across the snow-swept field, landing on his stomach and rolling onto his back. He was mere inches away from her; if she reached out, she could pull him through. Her thoughts raced through her head; he had already held them off so the others could escape, had died a noble but temporally inconsequential death.

But he had died.

As Vader turned away, the third thought proved true, and she pulled him through, his robe sliding off and slowly disappearing beneath the Corellian snow.


	2. Clutching Smoke

Barriss had been the healer. Traitor that she had turned out to be, the young woman had had the skills necessary to save the dying. Ahsoka had learned a bit from her once-friend, and she drew on all of it now, trying to bring him back from the brink until his healing factor could take over as she had seen it do so many times.

He seemed so small and young in her arms; she had grown into a woman while he had died just barely after he could no longer be called a boy. There was a light shimmering next to her, and she looked once more at the spirit. He was hazy now, seeming to fade away, but his expression was clear; he looked upon her with sorrow. A moment later, he was gone, and an explosive breath burst from Naruto's lungs.

* * *

Breathing was agony, but it let him know in no uncertain terms that he was alive. It was a daze at first; he could feel a presence near him, could make out strange lights and voices, but his mind was muddled. He felt as though he was trying to contain smoke in his hands; there was something he had experienced, something he had been a part of that was so beyond understanding that he could not retain the memory, no matter how tightly he grasped.

It was maddening.

 _I am one with the Force, the Force is with me. I am one with the Force –_

 _Luminous beings are we, not this crude matter –_

 _I see your eyes –_

 _The time to fight is now! –_

 _You already know the truth –_

 _Train yourself to let go of the thing you fear to lose –_

 _This is our most desperate hour –_

 _Just when you think you understand the Force –_

 _Help me, Obi-Wan Kenobi –_

 _You find out how little you know –_

 _You're my only hope._

He cried out, clawing at his head as the voices overwhelmed him. There were hands on his shoulders, someone turning him around, saying a name. Another voice, another word, buried beneath the storm of time and pain, space and hope.

 _There is no emotion –_

"There is peace," he whispered to himself, and the voices paused.

 _There is no ignorance_ –

"There is knowledge," a figure next to him spoke. He turned, and his vision shifted, slowly revealing a Togrutan woman kneeling before him. There were tears swimming in her eyes, threatening to run down her cheeks. They began to speak together, the woman becoming clearer with each line.

"There is no passion, there is serenity."

"There is no chaos, there is harmony."

"There is no death, there is the Force."

"I know you," he whispered, his eyes tracing the patterns on her face, roaming upward and following the shape of her montrals. She nodded, a smile breaking her face as she choked back her tears, gently raising her hand to cup his cheek. As her skin touched his, images flashed before his eyes.

 _He saw her in the cockpit of a Jedi fighter, felt icy-wind on his face as he yelled at her, before leaping from the wing and falling through the empty air._

 _They were sparring, and as her met the cold steel of his lightsaber hilt, he continued his forward momentum, forcing her lightsaber behind her and surrounding her body with his, pressing her into him in as intimate a public act as they could get away with._

 _He chased her through a field overgrown with flowers, the stars shining above as he grabbed her waist, lifting her and spinning as she yelped in surprise. He finally set her down, placing a hand on her chin and lifting her lips to meet his._

"Ahsoka?"


End file.
